Who will be this year’s pariah when England (almost) inevitably get knocked out of the World Cup?

There’s always some luckless individual who seems to get the blame when the national team fails to live up to expectations in a major tournament.

In 1998 David Beckham was sent off for kicking out (ever so slightly) at Diego Simeone.

England went out on penalties and Beckham returned home as a figure of hate, stoked by tabloid headlines describing the team as ‘10 heroic lions, one stupid boy’.

Two years later the burning effigies had swapped England’s number seven shirt for the number three, after full-back Phil Neville conceded a late penalty against Romania which led to England being knocked out of the European Championships – and the younger Neville brother becoming the national team’s next pariah.

Read More

Some years later, Neville recalled: “My wife came home one day from work and the gates were on fire with an England flag on top of it.”

The list goes on. David Seaman took the flack in 2002 after he misjudged Ronaldinho’s free-kick in the quarter finals in Japan.

Wayne Rooney was sent off for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho as England crashed out in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup – but got off lightly because Cristiano Ronaldo was caught on camera giving a wink; ensuring it was Rooney’s United teammate who took the hate which would otherwise have been directed at him.

Read More

England manager Steve McClaren made a lot of bad decisions which led to England failing to qualify for the 2008 European Championships, but his worst was choosing to shelter under an umbrella in the rain as England lost to Croatia at Wembley. The result was the infamous, ‘wally with a brolly’ headline.

South Africa 2010 was a woeful World Cup for England, but at least there was a linesman to blame for failing to allow Frank Lampard’s ghost goal in the 4-1 hammering by Germany.

So, who will it be in 2018?

Raheem Sterling was booed by England fans in France two years ago, even before the embarrassing defeat to Iceland; Tottenham’s Dele Alli has been caught diving by the Match Of The Day cameras; manager Gareth Southgate has got previous – he missed the decisive penalty against Germany in 1996; and Harry Kane, as captain and star player, carries the weight of expectation.

But why should we need someone to blame? It has now been 52 years of hurt, surely we should be used to failure?

Read More

The tabloid press in particular have a tendency to elevate any Englishman playing regularly in the Premier League to instant hero status – then knock them down again the second they fail to deliver at international level.

In club football, a striker who misses a penalty can make up for it with a starring performance a week later – and he can also expect a certain amount of tolerance and loyalty from his fans.

At international level, it can be months before a player has a chance to find redemption – and an England fan who normally supports Stoke or Vale, is not going to look kindly on a United player letting the country down with a reckless tackle and a red card in a World Cup quarter final.

When things go wrong it’s easy to blame a particular player, especially if he plays for a club you don’t support, but it isn’t fair.

But the truth is England don’t need to win the World Cup to put the nation in a joyful and triumphant mood.

Read More

In 1990 I went to Luton to welcome the England squad home from Italy. The team took an open top bus tour of the town, past thousands of cheering fans. The atmosphere was electric – and England had only finished fourth.

There was a similar mood at Euro 96 when England again reached the semi-finals on home soil, and again lost to Germany on penalties.

England fans are not asking the impossible. If the Three Lions were to get as far as the semi-finals in Russia, there would be jubilation in the streets and the FA would probably need to book an open-top bus tour.

A run to the quarter-finals would pacify most fans.

But should England fail, the fingers of blame will point in someone’s direction – after all, the English love a pariah.